THE BELLES DAMES CLUB (Roberts Hale, April 2007)

Miss Clarissa Wyckenham comes to London to join her pretty step-mama and finds that Mama-Nell has formed a discreet club for ladies. Soon she is pitched headlong into the deliciously wicked antics of the Belles Dames Club, and finds herself in conflict with the disapproving Lord Alresford…..

GENTLEMEN IN QUESTION

The story begins at the harbour in Rye, Sussex on a blustery November day in 1792. Madeleine Sedgewick is meeting her cousin, one of the many French aristocrats forced by the Revolution to leave their homeland. Madeleine's life so far has been uneventful, but with the arrival of the Comte du Viviere she finds herself entangled in a dangerous web of intrigue and suspicion and she has to decide if her cousin is a victim or a villain.

The question that haunts Madeleine is, how can she tell? There are two men – both of them suave, urbane and good-looking (this is a romance, after all): one is her cousin, the Comte du Viviere, who has left his homeland and everything he knows, fleeing from the terror of the French Revolution. The other is Beau Hauxwell, a rich English gentleman of fashion. Madeleine likes them both, but how is she to know which one is to be trusted?

I had great fun writing this book, especially since I had not one but two handsome men to play with (figuratively speaking, of course!) and isn't it odd that we do like our villains to be attractive, at least in fiction. And there is an added bonus: one of the gentlemen in question is French, and there is something soooo sexy about that French accent!

Dance for a Diamond

Antonia Venn describes herself as a very average sort of female, “…average height, average colouring – a poor little dab of a girl, nothing to win the heart of a man of fortune or fashion!” In a bid for independence she decides to open a dancing school in Bath, despite the misgivings of her family.  Antonia is persuaded to take the beautiful Isabella Burstock as a pupil, a decision that puts her on a collision course with the young heiress’s autocratic brother……………

Out of a Europe torn by the Napoleonic Wars came one of the most popular dances of all time, the waltz. The early form of this dance began with a slow movement, “la marche”, followed by the quicker “Sauteuse” and ending with the “Jetté”, an energetic third movement. Dance for a Diamond follows this form.

from the Singletitles.com website review:-     

Written with plenty of flair and charm, Dance for a Diamond is an absolutely fantastic Regency written by an outstanding writer of historical romance!   If you loved Georgette Heyer, you will absolutely adore Melinda Hammond!

A Lady at Midnight

When Amelia Langridge accepts an invitation to stay in London as companion to the beautiful Camilla Strickland, her thoughts are merely to enjoy herself a little before settling down as the wife of the dull but dependable Edmund Crannock.  Camilla's intention is to capture a rich and noble husband, and when she attracts the attention of the pleasure-loving Earl Rossleigh and it seems that she will realise her ambition, but the earl is intent on another, much more dangerous quarry, and it is the level-headed Amelia who finds herself caught up in the earl's tangled affairs…

Governess Verity Shore longs for a little adventure, then Rafe Bannerman arrives to carry her off to Highclough and Verity discovers that life can be a little too exciting!  An estate the edge of the wild Yorkshire Moors, Highclough is Verity's inheritance, but she soon discovers that the land is coveted not only by her handsome cousin Luke but also by Rafe Bannerman and soon her very life is in danger…..

A lively tale of intrigue and romance in the turbulent final years of the eighteenth century.

In this enchanting romance, we meet again the characters from Melinda Hammond's earlier novel, Autumn Bride as well as delightful new ones in a plot that carries the reader at breathtaking speed to its final, suprising conclusion.

When Vivyan Lagallan decides it is time to settle down, Fate has other ideas. One last adventure literally drops into his arms in the form of the spirited Miss Eustacia Marchant.

Eustacia is determined to marry Rupert Alleyne, while Vivyan is engaged to the beautiful and highly respectable Helen Pensford.  Into this volatile mixture comes Vivyan's adventuring colleague, Nathan MacCauley, intent on making a respectable alliance....

(The prequel to this book - Autumn Bride - is now available as an e-book from www.Belgravehouse.com )

“With blood did we pay for this.  In blood shall I return it" 

England in 1753 is a dangerous place. King George II sits uneasily upon his throne, fearful of another Jacobite uprising and many noblemen play upon these fears in their quest for power.  Among them is Guy Morellon, Marquis of Thurleigh, hated and feared, and almost unassailable, but when Madame Elinor de Sange returns to England, bent on revenge, he finds himself pitted against a dangerous adversary. For Elinor has the bloodstone, a fiery ruby that holds the key to his destruction and that of the other men who ruined her life eight years earlier. 

But revenge carries a high price, and Elinor finds she is no longer the Lady of Stone. She must learn to trust - and to forgive - if bitterness is not to destroy her.

Maid of Honour

'When I do not care for your fortune...   what else could possibly aid your suit?'

Fashionable London in the 1780s is a hotbed of vice and scandal, and the notorious Earl of Aldringham retreats to Bath in order to let talk of his latest affair die down. There, he meets Melissa Langham, a penniless but spirited orphan, who scorns his advances. Unable to resist such a challenge, the Earl is determined to win her affections, and finds himself battling with a protagonist every bit as strong-willed as himself.

  Will he succeed?

SUMMER CHARADE

AUTUMN BRIDE

FORTUNE’S LADY

**AVAILABLE NOW AS A E-BOOK FROM www.belgravehouse.com **